


4 Times Lance played with Keith's hair (+1 time Keith played with Lance's)

by klaiths



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post S3, S3 spoilers, alt titled 4 times keith died over lance and one time lance died over keith, but really 4+1 bc I'm lazy, honestly the timeline is a mess in my head since i watched s3 in one sitting, keith's pov, more like in the middle of S3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 13:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11760777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klaiths/pseuds/klaiths
Summary: “I used to do my niece’s hair before dance since her sister was always too busy to help out. I’m a natural hair stylist although I’m better at buns than braids. One time, she had to...” Lance babbled on about his niece while Keith was lost in thought. What had originally felt like tugging on his scalp, had settled into soft movements that were relaxing to Keith. He closed his eyes for a moment and let the timbre of Lance’s voice wash over him.I could listen to him talk for hours.As the title says: 4 Times Lance played with Keith's hair (+1 time Keith played with Lance's)





	4 Times Lance played with Keith's hair (+1 time Keith played with Lance's)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lelex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lelex/gifts).



> I took time away from my huge fic [(Even if it Kills Me)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11440278/chapters/25637391) becuase I have s3 brain! Inspired by my friend [Lexi ](http://le-lex.tumblr.com/11440278/chapters/25637391)who sent me the idea for the last part of this fic and it just grew from there! I wasn't planning on this being a 4+1 fic but I got a little carried away, enjoy!

_\----------------------_

1

_\----------------------_

 

It was a rough day for Keith. Being thrust into the role of the black paladin is not something he ever wanted, but Black wasn’t responding to Shiro anymore. In fact, Shiro seemed to have changed personalities since he got back, he was in no fit shape to be a leader. So the duty fell to Keith and Keith alone, or so he thought.

 

When Black initially responded to him, Keith refused. He didn’t want to be the leader, he couldn’t handle it. With the fresh wound of Shiro’s disappearance and the words _I want you to lead voltron_ reverberating in his head, Keith felt overwhelmed. Black tried to soothe him, but it wasn’t until Lance accepted him as the leader that his stance finally shifted. When he felt Lance’s hand on his shoulder he thought Lance was going to come at him with all he was worth and confirm all of Keith’s insecurities.

 

_I can’t be a leader. Allura hates me, I’m Lance’s rival, Pidge won’t listen to me, Hunk is too nice to shoot me down. The team is going to fall apart. No one wants me to do this. Shiro was wrong, I-_

 

The thoughts running through his head were cut off by Lance. His soft voice reassuring Keith that Shiro was irreplaceable, but that Keith could still lead them in his absence. From that day forward, Lance was his right hand man, both literally and figuratively. For Lance, this meant being Keith’s impulse control as well as his strategist. Keith felt bad that Lance needed to be the one to keep Keith’s emotions in check, but lately it seemed like Lance was the cause for Keith’s emotional outbursts.

 

While he knew he could trust and depend on Lance, Keith didn’t feel the need to burden Lance anymore than he already had. He was having trouble sleeping, struggling to find solace in his own mind with a constant swirl of _what if_ s always being pushed to the front of his thoughts. Since he know was the head and thus the decision maker, he felt that every small mistake was his fault. It had been several weeks before anyone caught onto this, and _of course,_ it had to be Lance.

 

They had just come off of a 3 day stint on a freed planet where they were spending a lot of time with the locals. It was draining for Keith to be the good diplomat instead of simply hiding out in his room while Allura talked with the planet’s occupants.

 

There had been a small celebration on their last night there that required them to wear dress clothes. Keith wasn’t a fan of dress clothes on himself, they were restrictive and didn’t have many places to hide a weapon. He was already in a bad mood when Lance walked in and- he looked _so good._ The crisp white shirt with his silky blue tie complimented his complexion while seeming to make his eyes one thousand times brighter. His hair had been tamed back using some sort of gel and he looked every part the suave paladin.

 

He quickly looked away before Lance had seen him staring and missed Lance’s reaction to his own outfit. Keith didn’t think he was anything special in his suit with his unruly hair, and it seemed to him that Lance agreed.

 

Keith was doing everything in his power to ignore Lance when Lance walked over and ran his fingers through Keith's hair. “We really need to do something about taming this mullet,” Lance said, pulling Keith’s hair back and away from his face.

 

“C’mere,” he said, letting go and pulling Keith to sit on the edge of one of the dining chairs. Keith sat down and felt Lance section his hair into two parts before beginning to tug and hold small sections of it.

 

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, turning his face up to peer at Lance.

 

“Hold still!” Lance chastised as he grabbed Keith’s chin and forced his head back down. “I’m braiding your bangs back so they will stay out of your eyes, for once in your life.”

 

Keith wasn’t sure how to respond but he let out a small, “Oh,” before shutting his mouth. Lance continued to attack Keith’s hair, pulling at different chunks as he moved around his head.

 

“I used to do my niece’s hair before dance since her sister was always too busy to help out. I’m a natural hair stylist although I’m better at buns than braids. One time, she had to...” Lance babbled on about his niece while Keith was lost in thought. What had originally felt like tugging on his scalp, had settled into soft movements that were relaxing to Keith. He closed his eyes for a moment and let the timbre of Lance’s voice wash over him. _I could listen to him talk for hours._

 

Keith was startled from his thoughts when Lance stopped his story to say, “Allura, do you have a hair tie?”

 

“Certainly, Lance, I will have the mice fetch one from my quarters,” Allura said, glancing their way from where she had been in conversation with Hunk and Coran. “Wow, Keith, your hair looks amazing. You did a great job, Lance.”

 

“Thank you, thank you,” Lance said, giving a short mock bow and blowing Allura a kiss, “I haven’t had the opportunity to do anyone's hair in a while, I’m just glad Keith was so cooperative.”

 

“You could do it some other time too,” Keith said. _Why did I just say that!!!_ “I mean,” he recovered, “So it stays better in my helmet and stuff.”

 

He didn’t dare look up at Lance again, fearing his reaction. However, he could hear the smile creeping into Lance’s voice as he said, “Sure, anytime, buddy.” Keith could feel his cheeks heating up and he was just about to bury his face in his hands when he heard a squeaking coming from the floor.

 

“Thanks, little guy!” Lance said as he bent over to grab the hair tie. He quickly finished off Keith’s hair before he spoke again. “Well, we better be on our way.” He rested his hand on Keith’s shoulder before patting it once and giving it a light squeeze.

 

_This night can’t get anymore awkward._

 

_\----------------------_

2

_\----------------------_

 

Keith felt like he had cursed himself with that thought. The dance itself wasn’t all that awkward, except for the fact that they had to stay with their dance partner all night. Allura had had the idea to pair dancers based on ability so that one of the partners at least had some amount of skill. The pairs ended up being her and Hunk, Lance and Pidge, and Keith and Coran.

 

Of course, while they were leaving the castle Lance had to go and antagonize Pidge about dancing with him.

 

“I’m cuban, dancing is in my blood! You better be able to keep up, Pidge.”

 

“I wouldn’t be as worried about keeping up as I would about you making heart-eyes all night,” Pidge snickered as she slapped Lance’s shoulder.

 

“I’ll have you know I’m a sophisticated and mature paladin, I don’t think I’ll be flirting with any aliens tonight, thank you very much.”

 

“I wasn’t talking about an alien- well, I guess he sort of is an alien.” Keith saw Lance slap his hand over Pidge’s mouth before letting out an awkward and fake laugh.

 

“Haha Pidge, such a jokester! I have _no idea_ what you’re talking about.” Lance glanced back at Keith who quickly looked to the side, acting like he wasn’t listening in on their conversation.

 

Pidge slapped Lance’s hand off her mouth before continuing, “Lance, you know exactly what I’m saying, I was talking about-”

 

“Pidge! Stop!” Lance pulled her into a headlock where she struggled and pushed him away.

 

“That’s it. Coran!”

 

“Yes, number 5?” Coran called from the front of the group where he was leading with Allura.

 

“Will you be my dance partner? Lance is being an asshole and I don’t think I can make it through the night without punching him.”

 

“Certainly Pidge!” Coran responded, an enthusiastic glint in his eyes as he held back to walk with her, “Lance, you can dance with Keith then, just don’t antagonize him as much as you have Pidge. It’s fitting, really, to have the head and the right hand-”

 

“What?!” Keith managed to choke out once his brain caught up to the situation.

 

 _Dance with Lance, all night? When he looks like_ **_that?_ ** _What deity did I piss off to punish me this much?_

 

As Pidge and Coran made their way to the front of the group instead of trailing behind with Lance and Keith, Keith heard her whisper a small, “you’re welcome” to Lance.

 

“You gremlin, we will be talking about social boundaries tonight, mark my words!” Lance yelled after her. Hunk turned around from where he had been talking with Allura and sniggered at Lance’s response.

 

He shouted a, “good luck, buddy!” back at Lance before returning to his conversation with Allura.

 

Keith awkwardly scratched at his head, pushing his fingers under the intricate plait Lance had laid out. His hair wasn’t used to being pulled in such a tight configuration, especially at the base of his head. He was scratching so much he felt several small chunks fall out of the braid by the base of his skull.

 

“Stop messing with it, you’re going to ruin all my hard work,” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s wrists and keeping them trapped between one of his own hands.

 

“Sorry,” Keith mumbled, “it’s just itchy.”

 

“Well, beauty is pain,” Lance responded, letting go of Keith’s hands with a quick squeeze. “You’ll be fine for one night.”

 

Finally, they had arrived at the dance, which took place in an outdoor pavilion in the square of the main city of the planet. There seemed to be floating lights all around, casting the square into a soft orange glow. Lance was glowing under the lights, and was buzzing with excitement.

 

Keith heard someone announcing their arrival, but his attention was elsewhere as Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled him to the dance floor. The music wasn’t too fast paced, but Keith felt out of his depth.

 

“Lance,” Keith said, “I can’t dance!”

 

“C’mon, samurai, I’ve seen your fancy fighting footwork. Just act like we’re fighting, you’ll do fine.”

 

Keith gulped as one of Lance’s hand settled at his waist while the other grabbed Keith’s hand. “That won’t be too difficult,” Keith said, voice cracking as he swallowed to keep his throat from getting too dry, “we fight all the time.”

 

“Yeah,” Lance sighed, smile dipping a little bit, “not lately though.”

 

“No,” Keith agreed, “Not lately.”

 

They had been doing simple steps for a while, keeping in time to the music. Keith hadn’t even been paying attention to the dancing, most of his focus being drawn to Lance’s face, and shoulders, and slicked hair, and bright smile, and- anywhere else because Keith’s blush seemed to be becoming a problem.

 

“We make a pretty good pair,” Lance said, breaking the silence that had been going on between them, “you ready to step it up a notch?” Without waiting for Keith to answer, Lance started adding in more steps and began twirling his hips and shoulders every so often.

 

“Lance wait-”

 

“C’mon, man. Don’t you trust me?” Keith looked into Lance’s eyes and was entranced for a moment. The deep blue seemed to be pulling him closer, or was it Lance’s hand on his waist tightening? Either way, Keith couldn’t help the small, “yeah” that escaped his lips. Lance’s smile returned full blast, and his eyes crinkled at the sides with the force of it.

 

They took off moving faster around the dance floor. Keith caught sight of the others sitting at a table and waving over to them. Lance paid them no mind, but he’s cheeks turned inexplicably red when Hunk wolf-whistled at them. Keith thought about asking Lance to stop and take a break, but he also knew this would be one of the only chances he would get to have Lance willingly this close to him for this long.

 

Keith isn’t even sure how long the dance lasted, but eventually they were the only couple still on the dance floor. After Keith came to this realization, he thought it was time for his fantasy to come to an end.

 

“Hey,” he started, looking deep into Lance’s eyes, “we should let the band take a break.”

 

“Yeah,” Lance replied without looking around. “You really were a great dance partner tonight, Keith. Thanks for sticking with me. I mean, not that you had a _choice_ to be my partner but you didn’t have to stick around this long.”

 

“It was... interesting,” is what Keith decided on. He wouldn’t categorize dancing as fun, there was too much awkwardness for that to be true, but he did like seeing Lance in a different setting. Once the song had finally ended, they separated from their embrace and Lance bowed to him. Keith stifled a small laugh as he did the same, before heading over to the table where the rest of the group was.

 

“Aww man,” Lance said as they reached the others, “I’m starving.”

 

“Then you shouldn’t have been dancing so long,” Hunk replied, “they carted the food away two vargas ago.” Lance’s face looked heartbroken before Hunk continued, “but don’t worry, we grabbed you each a doggy bag to bring back to the castle. You can reheat it when we get back.”

 

“Yes,” Allura agrees, “we must be heading back now. Coran, let us go thank our hosts. Paladins, please wait here for a moment.” Allura and Coran walked off and Lance went to the other side of the table to stand by Hunk who immediately launched into a detailed explanation of all the food.

 

Keith stood by Pidge who elbowed his side, well hip, and said, “Seems like you had a great time with Lance tonight.”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Keith replied, “Lance was the one who dragged me out there in the first place. Did you see his stupid smile the whole time?”

 

“I did, and I also saw it when he was looking at you when you weren’t looking.”

 

Keith didn’t respond, but Allura returned a moment later and shuffled them back to the ship. They all lagged in one big group, talking about the locals they saw that night and the music they heard. When they entered the castle, the rest of the group started to split off to go do their nightly routine, but Keith was stopped by a hand on his elbow.

 

“Hey,” Lance said, “want to go heat this up since I stopped you from eating all night?” He was holding up two containers filled to the brim with a wide assortment of foods. Along the walk back to the castle, Lance had lost his tie and his hair gotten a bit messed up. Some smaller curls hung down into his face and Keith was momentarily distracted by them.

 

He eventually managed to stammer out a, “yeah,” and followed Lance to the kitchen. When they got there, Lance started messing with one of the appliances so Keith asked, “Do you even know how to use that thing?”

 

“Of course! Hunk showed me how a couple of days ago. Do you even know how to use a hairbrush?” Lance countered.

 

“I brush my hair,” Keith replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter. He took in the flat look Lance gave him before responding, “most of the time!”

 

Lance placed the containers in the microwave-like appliance and closed the door before he crossed the space between them and leaned to get a closer look at Keith’s hair.

 

“Well, it was a bit knotty when I braided it earlier, let’s take it out and see how it is now, shall we?” Apparently Lance enjoyed asking a lot of rhetorical questions because before Keith could respond, Lance already had his swift fingers pulling out the hair tie and undoing the braid. “Hmm,” he said, running his fingers through Keith’s hair, “not too bad, but you could use a deep conditioner every once in awhile.”

 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Keith said, trying his best to stave off the content sigh that was crawling at the back of his throat. It seemed that Lance’s fingers had completed their mission of detangling Keith’s hair, and instead moved to gently massaging his scalp. Keith closed his eyes and leaned into Lance’s hand, head drooping with sleep.

 

“I know how braids can hurt sometimes, massaging always helped my niece.” Keith could feel himself falling asleep when there was a sudden beep from the microwave. The loud sound had Keith jolting up and tearing himself away from Lance. He coughed awkwardly but luckily Lance spoke first.

 

“Let’s see if this food lives up to Hunk’s review, shall we?”

 

They quickly tried different foods, Lance discussing each as if he was a 5 star food critique. They went to bed, Lance heading into his room with a short, “night, Keith,” before the door closed behind him.

 

Keith headed to his own room and despite feeling tired and almost falling asleep with Lance massaging his scalp before, he sat in bed, wide awake per usual.

 

_What mess have I gotten myself into?_

 

_\----------------------_

3

_\----------------------_

 

It had only been a day since he danced the night away with Lance and things had been... different. They had a long training session that morning, to work of all the indulgent foods they had eaten the night before. Allura was massacring everything with her whip while Pidge was close behind. Lance had taken roost in the training room, practicing using his newfound sniper rifle ability for his bayard which he had unlocked recently.

 

(Keith had been there when it happened and the smile on Lance’s face had been infectious. He really needn’t worry uselessly about Allura accelerating at a faster pace, after all, he’s the only one who has been able to change the shape of his bayard. Keith had told him as much, and his smile only seemed to grow from that of a sunny day, to the brightness of a solar eclipse.)

 

Keith and Hunk made their way at the back of the group, taking down slower sentries and rushing in to protect Allura and Pidge when a sentry crept up on them. While this new team dynamic was fairly normal, falling into roles they seemed to be made for, what wasn’t normal was the amount of times Lance had touched Keith’s hair. For someone who claimed he hated Keith’s “mullet” he did spend a lot of down time running his fingers through it.

 

So far, Keith counted 7 times Lance reached out and ruffled Keith’s hair. It usually lasted no more than a couple of seconds, but a couple of times Lance’s hands seemed to linger for a moment. The last drill before lunch ended with Lance sniping the last 3 sentries shutting the drill down.

 

“Well done, Paladins,” Coran called over the speaker, “let us break for Lunch!”

 

Lance hopped down from his post and made his was over to the rest of the group. “Great work, Lance!” Hunk said, slapping him on the back, “You really are doing amazing with that thing.”

 

“Yes,” Allura agreed, “you seem to be progressing with your new bayard at quite a fast rate!”

 

“You can say it, guys,” Lance said, smiling at the rest of the group, “I truly am the _cool ninja sharpshooter.”_

 

“You’re good with a gun, Lance, but I think you need to be a lot quieter in order to be a ninja.” Pidge replied causing the rest of the group to let out a small laugh in agreement.

 

“Hey!” Lance yelled in protest, “I can be quiet!” This brought out another round of laughing

 

“Sure,” Keith replied, “only when you’re asleep.”

 

“Oh yeah? I bet I can stay quieter than you!” Lance shot back.

 

“Really? You think you, Loud-mouth McClain, can be quieter than me? You probably won’t make it through lunch.” By this point, the rest of the paladins had made their way out of the training room, used to the antics that typically occurred between Lance and Keith.

 

“Fine, you’re on! If I speak first at lunch, then you have to do my cleaning duty for a week.”

 

“Deal, if I speak first then you have to-” Keith’s brain froze, all he could think about were things lance definitely would not agree to. Like _kiss me_ or _play with my hair_ or other things that weren’t appropriate. “- uhh to not call me or my hair mullet for 2 weeks.”

 

“Deal.” Lance said, ruffling his hand through Keith’s hair and racing past him.

 

During lunch, neither Keith nor Lance spoke the entire time. Keith was determined to win, less for the prize and more for the bragging rights. Lance on the other hand, found other ways to bother Keith in an attempt to get him to talk. He flung food at him, draped himself over Keith’s lap, and ruffled his hair every 30 seconds.

 

Keith debated saying something after the 8th time Lance’s fingers made his way into his hair, but he found it more beneficial to pretend to be annoyed while enjoying it than lose the bet. But Lance was persistent and eventually began poking at Keith’s side causing him to jolt. He had hit right below Keith’s ribs and had given a light squeeze as he pulled away.

 

Keith stifled a small laugh before freezing and whipping his head to look at Lance. He glared as hard as he could, attempting to convey the message of: _don’t you dare._

 

Lance pretended he didn’t see Keith’s stare and poked at his side again. This time, he slid out of his seat behind Keith’s and poked from both directions. Then began trailing his finger up and down Keith’s sides, continuing to tickle him in different spots.

 

Keith was doing his best not to laugh while attempting to squirm away from Lance, but he lost it. A small snort made it’s way out of Keith’s mouth causing Lance to freeze and let out a small, “oh my god.”

 

“Hah!” Keith said, victorious, “you just spoke first!”

 

“Ahh, so you two were playing the silent game, I got you,” said Hunk, who had been seated closest to them. The other Paladins had been seated at the other end of the table having their own discussion, doing their best to ignore Keith and Lance’s antics.

 

“B-B-But you just snorted! How is that fair!” Lance screeched, throwing his hands in the air.

 

“How is tickling fair?!”

 

“We didn’t have any ground rules besides no talking, so technically it was never off limits,” Lance said with a huff, crossing his arms across his chest.

 

“You’re just a sore loser,” Keith shot back, standing up to clear his plate and put it in the space-dishwasher.

 

“I am not, you greasy mulle-”

 

“Ah ah ah, Lance. Remember the terms of our bet.” Keith threw a smile over his shoulder as he positioned himself at the sink to rinse his plate.

 

If only he had been turned around, he would have seen the wicked grin growing on Lance’s face. “Sure thing, _babe._ ”

 

Keith’s plate clattered in the sink and he squeaked out a loud, “What!?”

 

“Well,” Lance said, making his way over to Keith and placing his dish in the sink by Keith’s, “I can’t call you mullet so I have to find something else to call you that will piss you off just as much.” He ruffled Keith’s hair before walking back to the table and sitting beside Hunk.

 

 _I doesn’t bother me in the way you think it does,_ Keith thought to himself. _I did this to myself._

 

_\----------------------_

4 (+1)

_\----------------------_

 

Keith had taken to pacing in his room to dispel the nervous energy he felt late at night when he couldn’t sleep. He remembers once boasting that when his head hit his pillow he was going to be lights out, if only things were as simple as back then. It had only been a day since he danced the night away with Lance, but Keith’s mood had soured again.  

 

He decided that his energy was too much for his small room and made his way to the kitchen in search of a snack, or something to put his energy towards other than wearing a hole in the floor of his room.

 

He slumped his way down the corridor, suddenly thrown back to the countless nights he had done this before. Somehow, tonight felt _different._  He wasn’t sure why, there was just something in the air that made him pause every couple of steps.

 

His mind was stuck on something he hadn’t been thinking about as much lately, being the leader. The latest antics with Lance seemed to pull him out of his funk for a moment, but when Lance wasn’t there to distract him, all the intrusive thoughts came flooding back. On his way to the kitchen, he stopped in the rec room to sit down on the couch for a while. He wasn’t particularly hungry, but he needed somewhere do something other than brood alone in his room.

 

He slumped down on the couch and said, “screen on” to get the huge monitor across the room to light up. There wasn’t much to watch, but Pidge did upload the entirety of the X-Files into the castle system off of her computer and Keith was always content to rewatch that. He lifted his hand and swiped it in the air while the screen responded to his motion and clicked on a random episode.

 

He sat there on the couch for half an episode, spaced out while his mind ran wild. He was so stuck in his thoughts he didn’t even notice anyone enter the room until someone was touching his shoulder.

 

“Hey,” he looked up to meet Lance’s and see his drawn eyebrows, “I called your name like 5 times, are you okay?”

 

Keith didn’t trust his voice at the moment so he just nodded his head. Lance didn’t seem to believe him and pushed on anyway.

 

“Why are you awake?” He asked, concern creeping into his voice.

 

“Why are _you_ awake?” Keith refuted.

 

Lance let out a sigh before sitting down next to Keith on the couch. Keith sat up straight in his seat and did his best to ignore Lance. He felt Lance’s eyes still on him and did his best to pay attention to the antics of Mulder and Scully on the screen in front of him instead.

 

After half a minute of Lance staring at him, the silence was broken. Lance rest his hand on Keith’s shoulder and let out a quiet, “c’mere.” He moved his hand up into Keith’s hair and lightly pushed until Keith’s head was in his lap.

 

“Why?” was all Keith managed to say from his new position. He always felt warmth radiate from inside him when Lance showed him any affection but at this point it felt like a supernova was radiating from inside his chest. Not only had Lance initiated contact but he was now... _stroking his hair?_

 

“I used to do this with my sister when she got too stressed. She’d come home for break from school but would be one big ball of nerves so we’d sit on the couch and I’d stroke her hair to help her relax.”

 

“Okay, but I’m not anxious,” Keith said, knowing very well Lance would immediately catch the lie.

 

“Dude, I’m your right hand man, don’t try and lie to me, I know you better than that.”

 

Keith had hoped that Lance wouldn’t call his lie out, but _he_ knew Lance better than that. Lance was caring and kind and was always ready to try and carry someone else’s burden. But Keith still didn’t want to burden Lance with all his insecurities, so instead he let out a sigh and said, “I’m worried about finding Shiro.”

 

Lance’s hands made their way around his head and pushed his bangs back from his face.

 

“I’m not saying that’s not true, but I know there’s more to you than just missing Shiro. We’ve already talked about that and this seems different. I know we haven’t always gotten along,” his hands tightened in Keith’s hair for a moment, “and I know that’s mostly my fault, but I’m here for you.” It was quiet for a second, Keith soaking in Lance’s words.

 

“I-I mean, we’re all here for you so, like, if you don’t want to talk to me, you should talk to someone else. I mean, I’m here now but, uh, I know you might not want to talk to be because I’m not always the best person to-”

 

“Lance,” Keith finally said, cutting him off by sitting up and grabbing his shoulders, “take a breath. There’s no one else on this ship I’d rather talk to. I know we call you my right hand man a lot, but you're more like a partner to me. I would be a _terrible_ leader without your support.”

 

Lance laughed at that, “Trust me, I know.”

 

“I just want you to know that you’re enough. You don’t need to put yourself down.”

 

Lance gave him a watery smile before hanging his head and chuckling. Keith squeezed his shoulder before laying down in his lap again.

 

“I know Black chose me for a reason,” Keith started, “I just feel like, every wrong decision I make carries so much more weight now. If any of you get hurt because of a decision _I made_ , I honestly don’t know what I’d do.”

 

Lance didn’t respond, but continued stroking Keith’s hair as he spoke. “This isn’t something I ever wanted. Since we’ve been a part of voltron, I’ve only wanted to be a fighter. I’m terrible at making plans, how am I supposed to be the head? How am I supposed to not be a hot-head when it’s just _too easy._ I can’t go against my instincts.”

 

They sat in silence again for a moment and Lance began braiding and unbraiding Keith’s hair.

 

“And what happens if it’s something I can’t control? What if all the bad things about me are from my Galra heritage and I can’t change. You all have grown so much since becoming paladins but I feel like I’m still stuck in the same box I was in out in the desert.”

 

“Keith, I’m not going to tell you it’s going to be alright because, frankly, all of your points are valid. We don’t know about your heritage, but that doesn’t mean we can’t _learn._ Pidge has a ton of data from her search for Matt, but if we ask maybe she could do some searching for you too.” Lance moved his hand to pull the bangs away from Keith's face again and tilted Keith’s head until he was looking up at him.

 

“And I know you’re a terrible decision maker, but that’s why  you have me. You don’t have to lead alone. Sure, you fly Black now and are the black paladin who was originally the leader of voltron, but when have we ever done something like the original paladins? It’s okay for you to depend on us, you don’t need to worry so much.”

 

“Thanks, Lance. Sometimes, you really do know exactly what to say. Other times...”

 

“Babe! I have no clue what you’re talking about!”

 

Keith rolled his eyes and moved his head so he was looking at the screen again. “See, perfect example,” he said, lifting a hand to gesture at Lance’s presence.

 

On screen, Scully rolled her eyes at Mulder as he went rambling on about some alien conspiracy.

 

“Do you ever realize that aliens are real? Scully spent all that time not believing Mulder, but he was right. Like, not even in a fictional sense, aliens are _real!_ We fight them on a daily basis,” at this point Lance was rambling with his hands gesturing around Keith’s head. “I mean, you’re _part_ alien. How crazy is that? If young Lance could see this now, he wouldn’t believe _any_ of it. He would probably-”

 

Keith’s brain froze for a second, suddenly thrust back to the conversation between Lance and Pidge the day before. _I wasn’t talking about an alien- well, I guess he sort of is an alien._ Pidge’s words reverberated in his mind and drowned out what Lance was currently saying. Keith shifted again so he was watching Lance while he spoke.

 

Lance laughed at something he had said before continuing speaking, but the smile on his face stayed. Illuminated in the low light from the screen, Keith thought Lance was beautiful. _How can anyone be this amazing this late at night?_

 

Keith could tell he was smiling up at Lance, but he was too tired to care at the moment. He closed his eyes content to drown out Lance’s ramblings and listen to the soothing tone of his voice.

 

He caught words here and there, but for the most part, he paid attention to Lance’s hands which were _still in his hair._ They were trailing around his skull, shifting behind his head then making their way to his bangs. One such movement, Lance’s hands trailed down further to lightly stroke his cheek and Keith heard him mutter, “so beautiful.”

 

Keith smiled, moved his head more into Lance’s hand, and said, “You are too.” Lance’s hand froze and quickly pulled away from Keith’s face.

 

“Keith! You’re awake!” He squeaked out. Keith opened his eyes and chuckled at Lance’s bright red face.

 

He sat up a small amount to get a closer look and said, “Been awake this whole time, what I said still counts.” He settled his head back down on Lance’s lap and watched as he buried his face in his hands.

 

_Shit, I have to defuse some of this awkwardness._

 

“So, why do you like my hair so much?”

 

 _Wow, what the perfectly_ ** _wrong_** _thing to say._

 

Lance peeked through his hands before dropping them in Keith’s hair again but refused to meet his eye. He cleared his throat before he rushed out, “Iusedtostareatyourheadatthegarrison.”

 

Keith’s brain was a bit too tired to decipher that so he just said, “What?”

 

Lance sighed, his eyes flitting down to look at Keith for a moment before they glued themselves back on the screen. “I used to stare at the back of your head in class.”

 

Keith’s small smile grew into a full out grin as he stared up at Lance in awe. Lance looked down and caught Keith’s grin and shoved his face away, “Stop looking at me like that!”

 

“You used to stare at my hair during class?” Keith said, giddiness creeping into his voice. At this point, he sat up next to Lance and curled his legs underneath him. Lance was still facing the screen but Keith was fully facing Lance.

 

“Yes, okay! I used to look at your head during Montgomery’s class since physics was _so_ boring. I always wanted to know what products you used but now I know it’s just dirt, soap, and hope.”

 

Keith chuckled before admitting, “I used to stare at you sometimes too, but only when you were in the sim.”

 

“Oh god, that’s so embarrassing! I always crashed the simulator!” Lance cried, burying his face in his hands again.

 

“Yeah but then you’d come out and Hunk would give you a pat on the back and you’d smile again as he reassured you. And now you’re one of the best pilots in the whole universe, so the sim really doesn’t matter anymore.”

 

Lance looked up from his hands and sent a small smile in Keith’s direction.

 

“You know, I don’t mind when you play with my hair.” Keith wasn’t sure what drove him to say this, but by the way Lance’s smile seemed to grow, he didn’t regret it, even though it was an embarrassing confession.

 

Lance looked up at him through his thick lashes and said, “Y’know, I wouldn’t mind it if you played with my hair either.” Keith thought that it was truly fitting that this conversation was happening between the current and former red paladin, since both of their complexions seemed to be reflecting that fact wholeheartedly.

 

Lance picked up Keith’s hands and placed them them on the sides of his own head before placing his hands back on Keith’s. It was one of the most intimate acts Keith had ever been a part of. Lance started slowly moving his fingers through Keith’s hair so Keith mimicked his movements. Keith wasn’t sure how it happened, but suddenly their faces seemed to be only inches apart.

 

“Is this something you do with your siblings too?” Keith asked, smirking as he waited for Lance’s reaction.

 

“Why do you always have to be so gross?” Lance responded before swooping in and closing the distance between their lips. Keith closed his eyes and leaned more into Lance, his hands going in opposite directions to cup Lance’s cheek and the back of his skull. Lance moved his hands so his palms were resting on Keith’s cheeks and tilted Keith's head to deepen the kiss.

 

Keith had no idea what he was doing, but by the pleased noises coming out of Lance’s mouth and making their way into his own, he was sure whatever it was was okay. They sat there trading timid kisses and exploring each other's mouths until the X-Files theme played and jolted them apart.

 

They both started with small laughs that devolved into a round of giggles. Lance’s hands were gripping onto Keith’s shoulders while Keith was hunched over with his forehead resting on Lance’s shoulder. Keith snorted through his nose while laughing which only made Lance harder.

 

After several minutes their laughter died down and Keith said, “We can never tell Pidge that our first kiss was interrupted by the X-Files theme, we’ll _never_ hear the end of it.”

 

Keith’s brain was on a repeat of the words _first kiss, first kiss, first kiss,_ but he had managed to get a full sentence out.

 

Lance laughed and said, “Well, you pretty much are an X-File yourself, Keith. You lived in a shack, you had skills beyond human comparison, you’re _literally_ part alien, and that _mullet-”_ Lance had started stroking through the ends of Keith’s hair, but

 

“I thought you weren’t supposed to call it that anymore, besides,” Keith continued as he mimicked Lance’s actions and dragged his fingers through the ends of Lance’s hair, “if anyone was a mullet here, I don’t think it’s me.”

 

Lance had a mock scandalized look on his face when he yelled, “Babe! Take that back!”

 

“Sorry, _babe_ , I’m just calling it like I see it.”

 

Lance’s face seemed to flush even more while his mouth gaped open. “You just called me babe, is that a thing we can do now?”

 

Keith wasn’t sure what was going on with him, or where the softness invading his bones seemed to come from, but he found himself leaning down to kiss Lance’s forehead before he said, “sure... babe.”

 

Lance buried his face in Keith’s shoulder and let out a stream off muffled yells. His head quickly shot back up to peck Keith on the lips before he said, “You’re too much to handle.”

 

Keith laughed at this, he had heard the phrase many times before. He had heard his foster parents spew it out in hatred, he had heard his teacher’s spew it out in frustration, but never, _never_ , had he heard is said with such fondness.

 

Keith leaned in again and captured Lance’s lips with his own. He was attempting to convey a flurry of emotions through the action, letting Lance know how much he meant to him, how important he was. He wasn’t sure if Lance caught on to his intention, but the smile Lance gave him when he pulled away warmed Keith from the inside out. It made him feel like the emotions he had been projecting at Lance were being reflected right back at him.

 

“I’m glad you’re with me,” Keith said, carrying the weight of all the unsaid words that could have followed. I’m glad you’re leading with me, I’m glad we’re trapped in space together, I’m glad you’re with me tonight, I’m glad you’re _with me._

 

“I’m glad you’re with me too,” Lance replied, bringing his hand to Keith’s cheek again. They sat there smiling at each other, wrapped in their own little world. Keith leaned in and wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist. Lance’s arms snaked their way around Keith’s shoulders and pulled him onto his lap.

 

Keith dropped his head onto Lance’s shoulder and let out a large sigh he felt he had been holding in for weeks. He felt Lance’s hands begin to play with his hair again and felt himself drifting off. Just as he was on the verge of consciousness he felt Lance’s lips connect with his forehead and whisper the word that sounded vaguely like, “mullet.” Keith let out a sleepy laugh before burrowing his farther down onto Lance’s shoulder.

 

_Out of all the stars in the sky, he sure does shine the brightest._

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at [klaiths](klaiths.tumblr.com) or [linkisdumb](linkisdumb.tumblr.com)


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